City eyes telework to save money
The city is considering keeping as many as 9,000 of its workers permanently on work-from-home to save money on office rents and related expenses.
I’ve been wondering about one aspect of having government work from home. Monday, I had to talk to Revenu Québec about a tax matter, and ended up in quite a chatty conversation with one of their people. Like many folks, he was working from home, and was quite relaxed and cheerful. My issue was simple and straightforward, but I was wondering how well any government can guarantee confidentiality if their people are discussing private affairs in a home setting.
JaneyB 10:12 on 2020-08-25 Permalink
Same happy mood with my banking. In general, I’m not a fan of the whole computerization of tax and banking. It just looks like one big target to me. My guess is that confidentiality will be a bit imperfect but surveillance will be extremely accurate. So, if your info gets out, the people who accessed your file will leave a perfect digital trail. Still…mess.
Kevin 10:15 on 2020-08-25 Permalink
Doctors have been at home, talking to patients, for months. Privacy isn’t that hard to obtain.
I am more concerned about city workers staying at home because of their effect on the economy. Having Montreal employees not working in Montreal sends a strong signal to other employers to keep people away, and the city cannot afford that.
Ephraim 13:03 on 2020-08-25 Permalink
We asked the government about provisional. The person specified to look at the law and read case c and case e. What did case e say? Look at case c. For some, it still hasn’t taken the edge off and to give you a simple answer.